Royals

34 years on: Charles and Diana’s fairytale wedding

34 years ago, on July 29th 1981, Prince Charles and his young bride, Lady Diana Spencer, walked down the aisle of St Paul's Cathedral into the pages of history.

It was heralded as a fairy tale wedding across the world; a handsome Prince, and beautiful young bride and the well wishes of thousands behind them.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 34 years since Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer made their way down the aisle on their wedding day on July 29, 1981.

Diana wore a wedding dress of ivory silk, threaded with more than 10,000 pearls and sequins, with a train measuring 25-feet, whilst her groom wore a sharp naval commander uniform with a chesftul of badges, pins and sashes.

Charles and Diana’s wedding was attended by over 3,500 wedding guests, with attendees hailing from 25 international kingdoms, including 8 Kings, 12 Queens, 26 Princes and 29 Princesses.

Their wedding was televised to more than 750 million people worldwide, with another 600,000 watching from the streets.

Lady Diana was delivered to the Abbey with her father in a glass carriage. Her enormous 25-foot train barely fit inside.

Her dress was made out of ivory silk tafetta, lace, hand embroidery and was decorated with 10,000 pearls, costing £9,000, or £30,809 in 2015.

There were 3,500 guests at the wedding. The walk down the aisle took Diana 4 minutes to complete.

The wedding was conducted by the Most Reverend Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Very Reverend Alan Webster, Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Diana’s wedding bouquet was made of cascading shower of ivy and gardenias, roses and lily of the valley.

For her wedding, Diana chose to wear her family’s heirloom, the Spencer Tiara, instead of borrowing one from the Queen. Her brother, Earl Spencer, later revealed that Diana had a headache all day because she wasn’t used to wearing a heavy tiara for long periods of time.

Diana’s bridesmaids for the day were Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones; India Hicks; six-year-old Catherine Cameron; eleven year-old Sarah-Jane Gaselee; and five-year-old Clementine Hambro.

Diana and Charles were married for 15 years, before divorcing in 1996.

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